The basic ingredients used in most of Chinese cuisine and found all over the word, if not you can find easily in Chinese grocery shop or Asian market. Once you’ve stocked up with, you can make dozens of delicious meals at home. Here is the list of 16 most important ingredients to follow and you will find out these ingredients popping up in Chinese recipes again and again.
Ginger
Ginger has a ‘clean’ taste that adds subtlety to delicate dishes like seafood and counterbalance the strong Flavors of meat. Throughout China ginger is used in all kinds of recipes, like soups, sauces and even in flavoured beverages. A little goes very long way, so it’s not important to buy ginger in bulk. Ginger comes in various forms; fresh, ground, pickled and preserved but fresh ginger cannot be substituted for others in most of the case. Fresh ginger can be stored in vegetable section for a week and for a longer period (1 month) of storage simply wrap tightly in a plastic bag and put it in fridge.
Garlic
Chinese cuisine is incomplete without garlic because of its distinct sweet, Spicy, Fragrant, and versatile contribution on dishes. Garlic, chopped, crushed, pickled, smoked or whole garlic in spicy sauces or flavoured oils by itself or mixing with other ingredients like curry, spring onion or ginger, black beans, shrimp paste, is an essential part of Chinese diet. Peeling garlic is laborious but now days packet of peeled garlic is easily available in Asian grocery store with long shelve life. You can also buy single-clove or solo garlic, which simplifies cooking.
Chinese Five-spice powder
This rich seasoning mixture is usually a blend of five different spices like cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise and Sichuan (Szechuan) peppercorns. The five Flavors of the spices (sweet, sour, bitter, salty and Savory) include five traditional Chinese elements. It’s a great seasoning for stir-fries, marinades, and fatty meat dishes. The five-spice mixture is followed by Chinese people all around the globe and also incorporated into other national dishes in Asia.
Rice (Jasmine, long or medium grain)
Rice is stable dish throughout Asia. There are about 2500 different varieties of rice found in the globe. Almost all the dishes are enjoyed with rice. Jasmine rice, which is a fragrant rice from Thailand. As comparison to other, rice is cheaper and goes very long way. Long grain is used throughout China and Chinese are known for their rice washing technique. Short grain rice is mostly used in northern China for making the special dish rice porridge. A small bowl of rice can go easily with anything.
Noodles
There are amazing variety of noodles available in China. These noodles vary according to region of origin, shape, width, texture, and ingredients. Noodles are invented in China and can be made of rice, wheat, buckwheat, millet and many more and consumed throughout the country. Walk into Chinese grocery you will find fresh noodle, dried noodle, egg noodle, crispy rice noodle and many more. Rice noodles are found in southern China while wheat noodle is consumed widely in northern China. Among them hand pulled noodle (Lamian), and Xi’an Bang Bang noodle are world famous for its chewy texture and Flavors. The technique of making noodle by hand is unique and it requires hard work and years of practice.
Oyster Sauce
This is a very popular and versatile Chinese sauce which is thick, brown and full of umami flavour. To make oyster sauce, fresh oysters are boiled in large vats and seasoned with salt, soy sauce, different spices and seasonings. Traditional oyster sauce is made of long- simmering oysters in water and seasonings and also contains dried fermented oysters but these days is no longer included. It is used in stir-fries and marinades.
Chinese chili sauce
Every Chinese kitchen must have this sauce and plays a key role in Chinese cuisine. Chili sauce is bright red in colour, hot sauce made from chilies, vinegar, sugar and salt. It is mainly used as a dipping sauce rather than cooking. you can this sauce in Asian grocery store and doesn’t cost too much. Most of the chili sauce are seasoned with garlic.
Cornstarch
In China and all other Asian country use different flours and types of starch. Cornstarch is most commonly used in Chinese cooking. In Chinese cooking cornstarch is mixed with water and added to soups or sauces in order to thicken them at a later stage of cooking. It’s also used as a part of velveting process which helps to create a tender and glossy texture of seafood and meat.
Hoisin Sauce
Hoisin sauce is a part of bean sauce family. It is a thick, rich, dark, brownish sauce made from soybean paste, garlic, vinegar, sugar, spices and other flavourings. It is used in China as a condiment and a glaze for roasted meat. This adds a sweet, and Savory flavour to stir-fries, marinades and dipping sauces also its texture ranges from thin to creamy thickness.
Fish Sauce
Fish sauce is a thin, clear, slightly stinky liquid made from salted anchovies which is rich in protein. Its most often associated with southeast Asian cooking, but other Asian cuisines use it as well. Fish sauce has strong odour and a taste to match. However, mixing with other ingredients diminishes the ‘fishy’ flavour and add a special richness, fragrance and quality to dishes. The sauce was developed as a means of preserving fish protein. It’s an amber- coloured seasoning that adds a lot of flavour in just little splash.
Soy Sauce (light and dark)
Chinese cook use two different kind of soy sauce. An ancient seasoning used in China more than 3000 years ago. It is made from a mixture of soya beans, flour and water, which is then naturally fermented and aged for some months. The distilled liquid become soya sauce. Light soya sauce is light in colour, saltier and thinner but full of flavour than that of dark soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is aged more; hence it is darker, thicker and almost black in colour. Dark soya sauce is used less than light soy sauce. Light soy sauce is mostly used in cooking while dark is suitable for stew as well as dipping sauce.
Sesame Oil
This is a Chinese pantry pick because you can use it to impart a nutty, fragrant flavour to your dishes. Chinese cooks prefer lighter, more subtly flavoured oil for cooking and so sesame oil is used only for flavouring the marinades or as a final seasoning. A tiny bit goes long way, so remember to use wisely for flavour.
Peanut Oil
This is the most popular cooking oil because of its mild, unobtrusive taste and a high smoke point, which means it can withstand the high heat of wok cooking. It is thus suitable for stir-frying and deep-frying. The semi-refined peanut oil in China is cold pressed, retain the fragrance of fresh groundnuts and possess a distinctive flavour preferred by many cooks. It can be labelled as groundnut oil at the grocery store.
Rice Vinegar
There are many different rice vinegars in China and mostly used in Chinese cooking. These vinegars are made from rice and grains and ranging from spicy slightly tart to sweet and pungent. Western vinegars are more acidic than that of Chinese one. They come in Black, Red, Sweet and White rice vinegar.
Shaoxing Rice Wine
This beverage is China most famous wine and has been for over 2000 years. It is kept in cellars until it matures and used both for drinking and cooking Chinese dishes. The higher quality Shaoxing rice wine is for drinking and cooking grade wine which contains salt is for cooking purposes. Shaoxing rice wine is made from sticky rice, and it adds pleasant flavor to meat dishes. If you can’t find it, use a good dry sherry instead.
MSG( monosodium glutamate)
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer used in Chinese and other Asian cuisines, vegetables, processed foods and canned soups.MSG, which stands for monosodium glutamate, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, a common amino acid found naturally in many umami-rich foods, such as tomatoes, mushroom and Parmesan. It tastes like salt, but as a flavor enhancer, it does not have a distinct taste of its own. MSG works well in dishes such as braised meats, tomato sauce, soup, eggs and vegetables.